Dr WOODRUFF (Franklin – Leader of the Greens) – At the start I want to thank the Deputy Premier for being gracious about the timeslot so family members could hear the inaugural speeches of Cecily Rosol and Helen Burnet.
Madam Speaker, I acknowledge that I am standing on stolen Aboriginal land today and I pay my respects to the old people, the palawa pakana, who lived and cared for this land, sea and sky country. When they died their spirits remained connected to place. We remember and will not forget the genocide, eviction, the cultural erasure and the stealing of land that occurred post-invasion. We commit to telling the truth of what happened.
On behalf of the Greens, I pay my respects to the Tasmanian Aboriginal people and elders present here today. You are the custodians of the land on which this parliament meets. I acknowledge your resilience, the strength of your struggle to be reunited with country, and your deep, enduring claim to own it and I recognise the ongoing impacts of colonisation occurring today.
The events of only two weeks ago with the grotesque disrespect in the return of Aboriginal remains is testament to the continuing embedded racism that exists in Tasmania’s government institutions today. The Greens commit to doing everything we can to challenge the silence on racism and injustice and get meaningful action on land returns, heritage protections and treaty.
I walk to the lectern today from a Greens and crossbench of 11 members. What an unprecedented and historic moment to have a parliament with such a diversity of representation. Looking around the Chamber, I can see every electorate represented by at least two MPs who are not from either of the major political parties. Combining both Houses of parliament, there are now more minor party and independent MPs than MPs representing the government. How fantastic for democracy. What a huge opportunity we must make positive change.
After electing a majority Liberal government at the three previous elections, the choice in front of Tasmanians in this second snap election was ultimately whether they wanted to see that status quo continue or to change, and two-thirds of Tasmanians voted for change. Despite the backlash against the government, what was so momentous was that most voters were not inspired to vote for the Labor opposition either.
Instead, the Greens achieved a significant increase in our members, hardworking community advocates were elected as independents, and the Jacqui Lambie Network’s rejection of politics as usual was rewarded. This election was a clear vote for change, and not just away from Liberal majority government. It was a rejection of a political system with two major parties who have dominated in a coalition for so long.
It is getting harder and harder to tell the Liberal and Labor parties apart. So often they represent the same special interests, and the voices of everyday Tasmanians get drowned out by the secret big donors and lobbyists. The job of improving the lives of people who are struggling, of fixing essential services and protecting our environment is constantly pushed to the bottom of their to-do list.
Of course, we acknowledge the Liberal Party has formed government again and I respect the work that the Premier has done on that front, and his recent attempts to change the nature of dealings in parliament. If he is serious as he says about not just operating government on the whims of cabinet or Liberal Party decisions, it is going to require constant transparency, constant collaboration and compromise with other members of this new minority government parliament. Whether the government likes it or not, at this election people voted to end business as usual and there are so many reasons why we need to do that.
There has been no attempt by the Liberals to return land country, sea country or sky country to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community. They have ignored and dismissed Aboriginal voices time and again. Ancient Aboriginal heritage is constantly under threat and often legally destroyed. We can see continuing and pervasive impacts of colonisation that radiate through government institutions. The shockingly disrespectful return of Aboriginal remains from the Coroner’s Office for a second time demonstrates a normalised systemic cultural racism that is wilfully blind to the harm it inflicts. Despite the inspiring strength and survival of the Aboriginal community, the journey to justice for them is far too slow. It is being held back by politicians who still think they know better.
Madam Speaker, here we all are on this beautiful planet, lucky enough to be living on our little green island lutruwita in a century of runaway climate and the rapid loss of the natural world. While the government celebrates us being the clean and green state, we are here to fight to look after our waterways, our forests, our wild country, our national parks, because they are all under threat.
The Greens can see, along with the community who stand up and were there yesterday at the opening of parliament, that our ancient forests are being logged and their remains burnt, with more than a million tonnes of carbon emissions sent to fast-track global heating every year. The Maugean skate and swift parrot, both critically endangered, should have ringfenced environmental protections, but they are inching close to extinction through the state-sanctioned destruction of their habitat.
Our world-class World Heritage wilderness is being privatised and developed at a time when more and more people recognise wilderness as being precious beyond measure. Our rivers are over-extracted and along with sensitive marine waters, they are being recklessly polluted, but without any sanction. We must confront the monumental challenge of the climate emergency, but the government has sidelined this as a priority issue.
These are all massive, serious issues that demand a genuine and effective response from this government. I want to acknowledge and thank the many thousands of Tasmanians, nature advocates and peaceful protesters who work to do the job that the government should be doing to protect our beauty and unique wilderness for future generations.
The Greens are also here to be a voice for people who need help in an emergency, who need an essential surgery, but are having their life and health risks by a health system that is buckling under this government’s 10-year failure to plan, invest and prioritise. Those failures are showing most extremely in the terrible toll on health workers.
Last week I got an email from a paramedic who is leaving the ambulance service after serving their community for more than a decade because of the unbearable strain of everyday work. They are a critical emergency responder, a person like so many who puts their heart and soul into their job to do service for their fellow Tasmanians, but this government continues to dismiss their voice and let them down. We can see the same experiences repeated elsewhere in the public service: in child safety, in education, in parks. It is the goodwill, care and unpaid extra labour of staff that is holding things together in the essential services that our community relies on. That is not okay.
I want to acknowledge the unions, who have done an amazing job speaking up for their members against all odds and a lack of respect from government for their important role in helping improve the quality-of-service delivery. They continue to achieve big wins, but only so much is possible under a government that has doggedly refused to make workers or the service they provide a top priority.
We all understand that housing prices and rents have skyrocketed in recent years. According to the last census, Tasmania shamefully has the fastest growing homeless population in the nation. We see the everyday faces and hear the experiences of people who are suffering with mortgage debt, or unable to pay the rent or even find a home to live in at all. In the face of this huge challenge, it is social services and community organisations that are often the lifeline for people who simply cannot keep up with the cost of living and housing. This government has failed to do what it should to build homes, tackle rents and control Airbnb. It has also ignored the desperate calls for adequate resourcing for those groups who are on the front lines of this crisis.
This July is the deadline for the first round of major changes required by the commission of inquiry to protect children and young people from child sexual abuse in government institutions. As it stands, children and young people’s human rights are violated daily at Ashley Youth Detention Centre. Despite this, the time line for closing this terrible place is being delayed again and again. There is no justification for that. This government has been on notice for a decade that that terrible place, where human rights abuses occur every single day, needs to close, and an alternative needs to be found. Children in out-of-home care remain at risk and the services that are meant to support them are seriously underfunded.
The commission of inquiry’s findings were so damning. There has been little reckoning with those public officers who enabled and covered up abuses over many years. People living with a disability are still being let down in so many areas of daily life. Conversion practices remain legal in Tasmania; animal abuses are still occurring in the racing industry and in slaughterhouses; and without the selfless dedication of animal advocates, we would not know about the cruel practices regularly occurring. Our public transport system is still starved of funding when such a small input would make all the difference to the people who have no other way of getting around.
Each of these problems can feel enormous, even insurmountable, and they are often conveniently represented as being such by governments who do not have a genuine interest in getting to the bottom of making a change to business as usual. Taken together, it can feel like turning the tide towards positive change is impossible. The Greens know that that is not true. Although they seem unrelated on the surface, the issues Tasmanians voted to get action on share a common cause.
For years, the Liberal-Labor coalition has prioritised the desires and wishes of multinational corporations, pet interest groups and big donors over the needs of everyday Tasmanians and the need to look after our island home. They have got away with it through using majority government power, secrecy and, sometimes, shameless dishonesty – but this is a very different parliament that the people of Tasmania have delivered. It heralds the opportunity to end that era. There is a wave of change in Tasmania and as the Green opposition, we plan to use this opportunity to forge a new path.
After 10 years of neglect and many mounting problems, we have a groundswell in the community behind us to fight to make the state a better place. Our message is clear – change is not just necessary, it is possible. As we enter the hopeful new world of invigorated democracy in this parliament, I want to recognise the people who helped create this historic opportunity; who have been fighting the good fight for Tasmania over the past decade – the everyday people who believe in social justice, sustainability, human rights and open democracy, and believe in protection for the environment. It has been a very difficult time and I thank your resilient spirit and your selfless service to the community.
We have seen so many Tasmanians relentlessly dedicate their lives to pursuing what is right: the Aboriginal community, conservationists, the union movement and workers, housing advocates, victims/survivors and whistleblowers, climate campaigners, social justice advocates, inclusion and diversity supporters, wilderness lovers, animal rights activists and community champions. Thank you. Our island home now has a collective momentum heading in the right direction.
The Greens are a grassroots movement. We are proud to be a voice for this diverse coalition of Tasmanians. Our commitment is to walk alongside and represent these people and their issues. It has been strong and unwavering for four decades and it will never waver. In this election people recognised this commitment, our values and integrity and our plan for positive change. It was on the back of the very hard work of Tasmanian Greens members and supporters – people who volunteered their time in this snap election – that we had a such a successful outcome. We are truly thrilled, and I am so proud to be back in parliament with a historic six MPs across both Chambers.
Vica Bayley is our deputy leader and MP for Clark. It was not long since you got elected, but you have already contributed so much. Your wisdom, your insights, your knowledge and respect from the community in so many areas are invaluable. Welcome back.
Tabatha Badger is our new member for Lyons. Your passion for Tasmania’s wild places is matched with a genuine love for your community. I have already seen your relentless energy and great, fierce intelligence on display. These will serve your constituents well and further Greens values for years to come.
Helen Burnet is our new member for Clark. Your dedication serving the people of Hobart on the city council for two decades was remarkable and earned you the admiration of the people of Clark. I know it will continue here. Your experience, your deep understanding of key issues, and strong community connections are a huge boost for our team’s work.
And to Cecily Rosol, our new member for Bass, you spent your life caring for others in all sorts of ways. You are deeply kind and empathetic, which is matched by a steely resolve driven by the knowledge that Tasmania needs a system change so that people can get the help that they deserve. You are going to be a wonderful MP.
And to Cassy O’Connor, the first Green ever elected to the Legislative Council, you have already played such a towering role in our party and this Parliament. Your strength and your leadership over so many years has laid the foundation of where we are today. You will be an amazing addition to the Legislative Council and your position there will open up so many new possibilities for the Greens and this parliament and Tasmania to get positive change. I would not be speaking today, representing this big group of MPs, if not for the giants who came before us.
There was a time when the Liberal and Labor parties tried to wipe us out for good and they cut the parliament by 10 members. They got close. In 1998 Peg Putt was left sitting there alone on a folding chair right behind me. Peg was here yesterday – two-and-half decades later – for the opening of the Fifty-first parliament and the newly restored House. Thank you, Peg, from the bottom of our hearts. What you did was tremendously brave and courageous, sitting there by yourself for that term of parliament. We would not be here without you.
My deepest thanks and recognition also to Dr Bob Brown, the first leader of the Tasmanian and the Australian Greens. He is one of our planets, a truly special human being with a giant heart and love of all life on Earth. He is a visionary and he understands the urgency of protecting nature upon which all of us depend.
Christine Milne, who after decades in the Tasmanian and federal parliaments like Bob, continues with great intelligence and fierce passion to defend our democracy and the island that she loves deeply. She is always there to remind us of our values and to keep us true and green. She is determined to prevent our island being captured and used as a plaything for big corporate interests.
There are also our senators: Nick McKim, who especially as a former leader of the Tasmanian Greens, has energy, passion and a fierce mind. His defence of nature and people against the overweening power of big corporates makes us so proud that we have him and Peter Whish-Wilson in the federal parliament.
It is my profound honour to carry on the legacy of these inspiring figures as the leader of the Tasmanian Greens. We all live in a truly remarkable place. We have natural wonders that fill us all with awe: dramatic mountains, towering forests, wild rivers and stunning coastlines. We are free to vote and voice our opinions without fear of retribution. We live in peace. We have clean air and clean water, and we look around the world and see horrors. We see famine and tyranny, we see the genocide occurring in Gaza and the pain and suffering that causes those people and to all Tasmanians who are affected by deeds being done with money and with too much still of the imprimatur of the Australian Government.
We know we are so lucky to live in Tasmania. It is such a mistake to be complacent. We must be ever vigilant in the protection of what we love. I know very well that the lucky life does not extend for us all. On behalf of the Greens MPs, I commit that we will work relentlessly to protect this beautiful place with its cathedral forests and colourful night skies, and especially to make life better for the tens of thousands of Tasmanians who struggle to get through the day to get the support they need, and the for the quarter of Tasmanians who are not able to put a meal on the table three times a day, or who are derided just for being their true selves.
This parliament is an opportunity to restore some of the community’s lost faith in politics and democracy. The government will need to make some big adjustments to the way it works to restore people’s trust. People crave honesty, they crave action, and they detest spin. We heard that time and again in the election campaign.
Premier, you have said you want a collaborative parliament and the early negotiations on the Standing Orders have been very promising. Thank you. We hope and expect that that attitude will also extend to some crucial changes that need to improve transparency and accountability.
Our electoral disclosures and fundraising bill that we will debate shortly is an early opportunity for all members of parliament to show that if we care about transparency, accountability and integrity in politics, we have to know who is paying for us to get elected. The community needs to know that it is so important.
To the Labor opposition and our crossbench colleagues, together we share a clear majority in this place. I am sure we all have ideas about what can be achieved under the circumstances, and I am looking forward to finding out where we have strong common ground and to working together. We all have a choice about what we prioritise to work on in this parliament. We each must consider the real-life consequences that flow from every one of our decisions in here. It is an awesome responsibility.
On behalf of the Greens, I promise Tasmanians we will always be true to our values and our word. We will not ever let vested interests or big donors push us or our priorities and decisions around. In making those choices, we take our direction from the need to look after everyday Tasmanians and our unique island home.
We are going to spend the next four years fighting for real and lasting change, for justice for Aboriginal people, to protect our beautiful environment, to invest in health care and homes and not a billion-dollar stadium, for economic fairness and real support with cost-of-living measures, for transparency and integrity to turn around people’s trust in politics, for safety for children and young people, proper rights for workers, a better and fairer education system, to stop harmful conversion practices, to prevent animal cruelty and all the other big issues that have brought us here.
By working across this Chamber, we can deliver a better Tasmania than we currently have today. I wish everybody all the best for the road ahead in this Fifty-first parliament. On behalf of the Greens, I look forward to working with you all. Thank you.
